Shifting his attention to the three, Urist found that they were giving him weird looks. With them acting this way he had no choice but to ask.
“What's the matter?”
“Why are you treating a devilish man like him so well?”
“Even devils have their uses. I am Urist, may I know your names?”
Although wary the three dwarfs spoke up, he found out they were two commoners and a tailor. The two commoners names were Fatty and Usbian, Urist really wanted to laugh at their names but held himself back keeping a straight face made of steel.
Amongst the dwarfs, Fatty had a large build compared to other dwarfs making him look chubby. If Urist didn’t know any better he would think that he was a human instead of a dwarf by his size. With his small eyes and cheerful attitude, he seemed like a gentle giant, but Urist could tell that the man was strong like an ox.
The girl next to him had a piercing gaze and half a shaved head. At first, he thought she was a man, she spoke like one, looked like one and acted like one. Having raven-colored hair, and black eyes she felt like a total hardass.
Urist decided not to dwell on such a minor matter and went up to the last dwarf that was a female named Xasta. He found out she was a basic tailor that knew her way around needle and thread. She seemed more distressed being here than the other dwarfs before her and it took him a bit to calm her down.
She had average brown hair and brown eyes and looked pretty plain next to the other dwarfs in the mountain home. If Urist had to put it she looked like a book worm that never left the house, a real shut-in not used to the wilds.
It seemed this summoning was full of real eccentric dwarfs compared to the other batches. Oh well, it mattered not to Urist if they were weird or not as long as they were useful. He checked over their slots and found that the two commoners had most of their slots for body and the tailor had a head alignment.
Urist figured that the two commoners were suited for farming, building and expedition work. He’d have the tailor start working on making clothing out of the leather they have been getting. With that, all dealt with he led the new dwarfs out of the cave.
Talking with the two commoners Urist found out that they wanted to join him in training. It seemed the life of the exploration team filled them with excitement. This made Urist stop and puzzle over the exploration team, what exactly was he trying to accomplish with it.
Sure medical plants and metal gathering drove it forward, only what else could I use it for?
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Dropping off Xasta with the tag team Ormila and Urmom, Urist headed over to the forge to see the new pair of dwarfs getting along with the two metalheads.
He had forgotten to hand over the design to Unicy beforehand, so he felt a little time was wasted in that. The four took the design away from him and handed Urist over his new bronze knife if you could call it that at all.
The thing was too long and thick to be called a knife, it was more like a well-made shortsword. Even though it was a short sword, he didn’t mind the length since it felt right to hold. He walked away with the two commoners in tow and went up to Unicy who was talking with the expedition members of their path today.
“Hey, Unicy I think the expedition group should train for today instead of going out.”
“Oh? Why is that? Besides that one tiger, there hasn’t been beast I’ve seen that poses too much danger.”
“Well, I want you to sit back so everyone can get the basics of training with me. Although it’s a little selfish of me since I want them to suffer with me.”
With a laugh, Unicy looked at her rugged batch and frowned. Urist was right that except a few warriors these dwarfs didn’t know how to carry a real fight.
“Alright, fellows we are going to train today.”
“Even me?”, said Ormila.
“Even you, prepare yourself!”
…
And so Unicy and the few warriors in the camp began their instruction over the newbie dwarfs. They tested the batch through tests of strength, speed, and eyesight before truly beginning. Driving Urist and co. to the bone, even Uroa couldn’t escape the grueling training the warriors put them through.
Though there was one odd thing that happened mid training when the fishermen came back with their spoils Mo stopped and stared at Urist having trouble with his spear training. Shaking his head he handed Rork his catch of the day which was a whopping fifty fish and walked over to Urist.
By now Urist was breathing rough, his heartbeat could be heard in his ears, sweat and dirt caked his body. He stabbed forward with both hands trying his best, but every time he tried to attack he wasn’t feeling it.
Unicy had tried to explain and show him how to strike with a spear but no matter how he tried he seemed to always get it wrong. It frustrated him since he knew with his short size that only short swords and spears were the dwarfs best weapons.
The hammers and large battle axes you saw in fantasy were a joke with the size of dwarfs to use unless you used a strength skill. That would be fine in short fights to use, but in long fights, it would be dangerous since you’d run out of energy fast.
As he tried to stab the air again with his spear Mo walked next to Urist and waited for him to finish.
“You are not striking correctly, move your legs like this, and your arms like this. You have to use your whole body to strike instead of just your upper body.”
Urist stopped what he was doing and watched what Mo was doing. Mo stood in a neutral stance and slowly moved his body intentionally for Urist to see. Eyes closed, muscles relaxed, breathing clear and fluid.
He watched wide-eyed as Mo’s eyes snapped open, muscles tense, and expel all at once. Gripping his spear, he moved his body all at once and struck while spinning the spear. He caused a screeching sound through the air and at the end, a crack could be heard.